Anna May Wong
Anna May Wong was a pioneering Chinese American actress and the first Asian American star in Hollywood. Born Liu Tsong in Los Angeles in 1905 to immigrant parents, she faced significant challenges growing up as one of the few Asian children in her school, which led her family to seek more supportive educational environments. Despite her family's initial disapproval, Wong developed a passion for film and began her career as an extra in silent movies, quickly rising to prominence with roles in significant early films such as "The Toll of the Sea" and "The Thief of Bagdad." Her success was often hindered by the racial stereotypes prevalent in Hollywood, where she was frequently typecast in roles that exaggerated her ethnicity.
Wong's career took her to Europe, where she gained respect and broadened her acting repertoire, though she experienced cultural isolation. Upon returning to the U.S., she continued to advocate for better representation of Asians in film, despite facing backlash from some Chinese audiences for her roles. Throughout her life, Wong persevered and became an influential figure in both cinema and the Asian American community. Her legacy was further honored when she became the first Asian American featured on U.S. currency in 2022, highlighting her enduring impact on American culture and the film industry.
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Subject Terms
Anna May Wong
Actor
- Born: January 3, 1905
- Birthplace: Los Angeles, California
- Died: February 3, 1961
- Place of death: Santa Monica, California
A popular actor during the early twentieth century, Anna May Wong overcame typecasting and the prejudices of her time to become a highly respected artist. She managed to challenge negative stereotypes with her own projects and inspired a generation of Asian American actors to follow her into the world of film and theater.
Birth name: Wong Liu Tsong
Areas of achievement: Film, theater, television
Early Life
Anna May Wong was the second child of Wong Sam Sing and Lee Gon Toy, both second-generation Chinese Americans. The family lived near Chinatown in Los Angeles. Wong Sam Sing was a laundryman, a typical occupation for his family, and as their children grew up, they joined their parents in the family business. Liu Tsong (as Wong was called as a child) and her older sister were the only Chinese children at their school, and they were constantly teased and sometimes even physically abused by their classmates. To protect his daughters from bullying in school, Wong Sam Sing sent them to a Presbyterian Chinese school; they also attended Chinese language school on Saturdays.
During the early days of the film industry, major studios were in the process of relocating from New York to Los Angeles. In spite of her family’s disapproval, Wong became a great fan of the short silent films being shown in nickelodeons. She started to position herself around the studios and use her English name, Anna May. Soon she landed her first role as an extra in the 1919 silent film The Red Lantern. After more experience, she dropped out of high school and at the age of sixteen secured her first role, as the wife of Lon Chaney’s Asian character in the film Bits of Life (1921).
Life’s Work
The following year, Wong was cast in a leading role in The Toll of the Sea (1922), the first Technicolor film to be made in Hollywood. The plot was a variation on Italian composer Giacomo Puccini’s tragic opera Madame Butterfly, in which the Asian heroine commits suicide because of her non-Asian lover’s infidelity. The popularity of the plotline reflected general fears of racial mixing. This fear also interfered with Wong’s career, as studios were afraid of casting an Asian American actor as a love interest alongside European and American costars. Nevertheless, Wong won critical acclaim for her acting.
Her next major project was The Thief of Bagdad, produced in 1924 and starring Douglas Fairbanks, in which she played a beautiful enslaved Mongol girl. Loosely based on a story from the Arabian Nights, the film was a huge success. Her next major film, released as The Dragon Horse in 1927, was set in Ming China, and had an Asian cast. Although not well known, the film provided a welcome relief from typecasting. In her next film, Old San Francisco, Wong played another kind of stereotypical character—an evil, manipulative role later termed the “dragon lady.” Soon afterward she decided to pursue her career in Europe.
In Germany and throughout Europe Wong was treated with respect, but she also experienced the isolation of being away from the Chinese American community. She and her sister Lulu first went to Berlin, where Wong studied German and acted in the film Schmutziges Geld (1928; titled Show Life in English). She met many German intellectuals, including the philosopher Walter Benjamin. She used her newly acquired German language skills in Vienna, where she played the title character in the operetta Tschun Tschi. Wong also appeared on stage in London in The Circle of Chalk with Laurence Olivier. She starred in five English films.
English broadcaster Eric Maschwitz fell in love with Wong, and upon their separation he composed the wistful lyrics of the song “These Foolish Things (Remind Me of You),” which would become a jazz standard. With her international stardom assured, Wong confidently returned to the United States in 1930, starring in the successful Broadway play On the Spot, which was later adapted as the film Dangerous to Know (1938).
Signing a contract with Paramount, Wong could not escape the typecasting and pervasive racism that infected Hollywood and popular culture at large. In Daughter of the Dragon (1931), she played the daughter of Fu Manchu, another predictably evil stock character. In 1932, she appeared with her friend Marlene Dietrich in Josef von Sternberg’s Shanghai Express. Wong was insulted when she was passed over in favor of White actors for MGM’s adaptation of Pearl S. Buck’s The Good Earth (1931), which follows a Chinese family.
During this period, Wong became a spokesperson for Chinese resistance to the invasion of China by Japan, which culminated in the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937. In spite of Wong’s loyalty to the cause, Chinese audiences resented her for her portrayals of Chinese characters. During her 1936 tour of China, Wong experienced this hostility firsthand. In the late 1930s, however, Wong was able to make a few films in which she portrayed more positive characters, including Daughter of Shanghai (1937). Wong continued acting in film and on television until her death in 1961. She was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960.
Significance
Like many actors of ethnic minority descent in twentieth-century Hollywood, Anna May Wong was forced to conform to racial stereotypes and exaggerate her ethnicity. Wong persevered, challenging professional and cultural conventions, and was able to transcend these limitations. Film historians have increasingly recognized Wong’s role in cultural history and her considerable talents as an actor. Many Asian Americans in particular have been inspired by her courage and trailblazing accomplishments. Anna May Wong: In Her Own Words, a documentary film by Korean American filmmaker Yunah Hong, was shown in 2010 at the Pusan International Film Festival. Several notable biographies have also examined her personal story and life’s work. In 2022 it was announced that a biopic film based on her life was in development.
Also in 2022, Wong became the first Asian American to appear on US currency when a quarter coin featuring her image went into circulation that October. The historic release was the fifth installment in the US Mint's American Women Quarters Program.
Bibliography
Chan, Anthony B. Perpetually Cool: The Many Lives of Anna May Wong (1905–1961). Lanham: Scarecrow, 2003. Print. Detailed biography provides a great deal of historical context; illustrated, with filmography and index.
Hodges, Graham Russell. Anna May Wong: From Laundryman’s Daughter to Hollywood Legend. New York: Palgrave, 2004. Print. Comprehensive biography covers childhood and entire career; illustrated, with bibliography, filmography, and index.
Kaur, Brahmjot. "Anna May Wong Will Be 1st Asian American Featured On US Currency." NBC News, 18 Oct. 2022, www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/anna-may-wong-will-1st-asian-american-featured-us-currency-rcna52735. Accessed 3 Nov. 2022.
Leibfried, Philip, and Chei Mi Lane. Anna May Wong: A Complete Guide to Her Film, Stage, Radio, and Television Work. Jefferson: McFarland, 2004. Print. A well-researched guide providing details on all of Wong’s works; illustrated, with bibliography and index.
Leong, Karen J. The China Mystique: Pearl S. Buck, Anna May Wong, Mayling Soong, and the Transformation of American Orientalism. Berkeley: U of California P, 2005. Print. Study of American orientalism in 1930s and 1940s; shows how Wong created an identity embracing both Chinese and American cultures; illustrated, with bibliography and index.